In the building and renovation industries, one of the most vexing and time consuming tasks associated with the installation, construction and remodeling of the bathroom area of a typical dwelling is found in the need to caulk or seal the intersecting joints such as those between tub surface areas and adjoining wall areas. For example, in a typical bathtub facility, an enclave is provided within which an elongated tub is situated. The tub typically defines a bathing receptacle or recess surrounded by a relatively broad upper rim or edge. Most typically, at least a portion of the upper rim of the bathtub receptacle defines a generally planar portion having curved corners intended to be seated against the surrounding walls of the tub facilitate enclave. Usually, the wall surfaces are covered with a water repellant material such as ceramic tile which intersects a portion of the upper rim of the tub receptacle. Despite the best efforts of tub installers to carefully fit the tub within the surrounding walls, their remains nonetheless a joint or seam which must be effectively sealed to prevent water leakage behind the tub and into the surrounding walls and below. This seal is usually provided by an application of a caulking material applied using a conventional caulking gun. The caulking gun applies a bead of caulking material within and upon the joint seam and surfaces. The most common and long lasting types of caulk used in such applications employ a silicone caulk material which, while effective once installed, is a sticky material which is difficult to work with. In many instances, incorrectly applied caulking seals result in leaking or unsightly unattractive areas of the tub to wall joint. Even the most expert of tub installers frequently find that an extensive cleanup of the caulked portion of the tub and tub walls must be undertaken to provide an aesthetically pleasing installation.
In another industry, the practice of construction and renovation of marine vessels, a similar need arises to caulk, seal or apply adhesives to intersecting joints between areas such as deck portions, between the interlines and the hull and various fittings which pass through the vessel hull. In addition, numerous windows and portholes within the vessel require careful and thorough sealing. Despite the best efforts employed by fabricators to carefully fit the various deck and hull portions together, there remains a joint or seam which must be effectively sealed to prevent water leakage passing behind the deck through the deck to hull seal. This seal is usually provided by an application of a silicone adhesive sealant in a process similar to the above-described caulking operation in building fabrication. For the most part, such caulking and sealing operations utilize a silicone caulk material which is similar to the above-described caulk. As with tub caulk, the material is effective when properly installed but which is also a tacky and difficult material to work with.
In another similar industry application, aircraft fabricators and renovators often need to provide effective seal joints between various aircraft portions such as aircraft skin to airframe joints and airframe to deck joints within the aircraft. This need is typically met utilizing a silicone adhesive sealant applied as a caulking bead in a similar fashion to that described above for building industries and marine industries. In further similarity to the above-described application of adhesive caulking materials, the need arises within the aircraft industry to avoid defective seals and unattractive seal beads caused by improper caulking or caulking excess. The aircraft industry is similarly vexed by cleanup problems in its attempts to effectively utilize adhesive sealing materials in the caulking type operations described above.
Thus, despite the benefits of silicone-based caulking materials, their use is subject to problems of difficult installation and often labor intensive cleanup involving careful hand work which in turn leads to increased cost. As more and more tasks become greatly automated and labor becomes a growing substantial expense in construction and remodeling operations within the building, marine and aircraft industries, practitioners have endeavored to provide less labor intensive alternatives. To date, however, these efforts have been generally unsuccessful and the task of caulking a joint area such as a tube to wall joint remains a difficult and labor intensive process.
One substantial improvement in the cleanup process relating to caulk joints has been provided by a product and cleanup method marketed under the trademark Caution: Don't Caulk Without Me! in 2000. This product utilized a spray solvent formed of isopropyl alcohol and set forth a cleanup method having the steps of: applying a bead of silicone caulk to the seam; immediately spraying cleaning solution over the caulk bead and adjacent areas on each side of the caulk bead; and removing excess caulk by dragging a finger along the caulk seam using medium pressure.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,198,822 issued Apr. 3, 2007 sets forth this same method based upon a parent application Ser. No. 10/712,667 filed Nov. 13, 2003, now abandoned.